Weekly Web Roundup (10/15/16)

Photo Credit: bjmccray

Due to Hurricane Matthew storming through Florida last weekend, I did not write a "Weekly Web Roundup" post last Saturday. So here are some interesting stories from around the web that I've seen during the past couple of weeks:

Seeking Clarity in This Confusing Election Season: Ten Thoughts by Kevin DeYoung (The Gospel Coalition)

Many evangelical Christians find ourselves in a quandary as to whom should receive our vote for president this election, or even if we should vote at all. Pastor Kevin DeYoung offers some helpful things to consider.

It's Never Too Soon to Talk about Race in Your Church by Jemar Tisby (Christianity Today)

"I desire for churches that are predominantly white right now, but [are] looking to become more diverse, [to] do the groundwork first. You’ve got to pull the weeds. You’ve got to break up the soil. You’ve got to cultivate the land that would make it amenable to planting the seeds that would bear fruit of diversity. . . . The minority shouldn’t be the first one at your church to broach topics of race and diversity. That should’ve already been done by the leaders, and it should’ve been done in such a way that they’re shepherding the congregation through those issues."

When Compassion is Exhausting by Melanie Dale (The Mudroom)

"But for our passions, for the things burning deep in our souls keeping us up at night moving us to tears liquefying our insides, it’s going to take more. It’s going to take partnering with really smart local people who have big plans for their own communities. It’s going to take lawyers and therapists and social workers. It’s going to take a lot. Which is why you can’t care about everything because the thing you need to care about the most needs your attention over the long haul. So find a thing and dig deep."

InterVarsity Asks Staff to Choose a Stance on Sexuality by Kate Shellnutt (Christianity Today)

One of our partner ministries, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, made the news this past week when the response to a 20-page paper on their theological beliefs on human sexuality was made known. A number of their staff members will be leaving IV as a result. Please be in prayer for both the leaders of InterVarsity and all the staff members affected.

What it Means to be Black in the American Educational System by Kevin O’Neal Cokley (The Huffington Post)

"The results of a recent survey by the Pew Research Center underscore this point. The survey found that black Americans with some college experience are more likely to say that they have experienced discrimination compared to blacks who did not report having any college experience. Additional survey results revealed several differences between blacks with college experience versus blacks without college experience. For example, in the past 12 months, 55 percent of people with some college experience reported people had acted suspicious of them, compared to 38 percent of those with no college experience. Similarly, 52 percent of people with some college experience reported people had acted as if they thought the individual wasn’t smart, compared to 37 percent of people with no college experience."

Maps Shows History of US Immigration

The topic of immigration has been of great interest during this election season. This animated map from Business Insider illustrates immigration patterns to the U.S., including which countries were allowed to send people to the U.S. and when they were allowed to do so.

Weekly Web Roundup (9/17/16)

Photo Credit: Bradley Weber

Here are some interesting stories from around the web that I've seen during this past week:

‘We’re the Only Plane in the Sky’ by Garrett M. Graff (Politico)

This past Sunday saw the commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. This oral history explains the decisions that President George W. Bush made in the eight hours after the Sept. 11 attacks and the strange, harrowing journey of those aboard Air Force One that fateful day.

Did you know…? from Gilbert Kingsley

My friend and ministry colleague Gilbert recently asked a number of leaders, including myself, from The Campus Ministry of Cru to share interesting facts, information and resources about student ministry. Here is what he learned.

Taking the Easy Route in the Diversity Conversation by Natasha Sistrunk Robinson (A Sista's Journey)

"As a WOC (Woman of Color), I understand that whenever I enter a predominately white space, I am representing myself and I am representing other black women to an audience that might not have intimate relationships with black people. This is my responsibility. It is also my responsibility and privilege to use whatever access I have to create space and opportunities for others, especially those who are underrepresented, but needed, in a professional space. I understand that this is my responsibility to my fellow sistas on the journey, and it is also my commitment to the next generation of leaders."

The State of the Church 2016 (Barna Group)

"Even though a majority of Americans identify as Christian and say religious faith is very important in their life, these huge proportions belie the much smaller number of Americans who regularly practice their faith. When a variable like church attendance is added to the mix, a majority becomes the minority. When a self-identified Christian attends a religious service at least once a month and says their faith is very important in their life, Barna considers that person a “practicing Christian.” After applying this triangulation of affiliation, self-identification and practice, the numbers drop to around one in three U.S. adults (31%) who fall under this classification. Barna researchers argue this represents a more accurate picture of Christian faith in America, one that reflects the reality of a secularizing nation."

Spoken Word on the Life of Jesus

This video was created by the JESUS Film Project and features spoken word poet Shawn Welcome artistically explaining the life of Christ.

Weekly Web Roundup (8/27/16)

Photo Credit: chefmaggio

Here are some interesting stories from around the web that I've seen during this past week:

Like Families and Soccer Teams: Church and Parachurch by Brian Strider (The Gospel Coalition)

"Working for a parachurch ministry, on the other hand, is more like playing for a soccer team. Team members are selected, and then they gather to play soccer. They don't gather to receive math tutoring, to brush their teeth, or to care for the elderly. They gather for one purpose and for a limited season: to play soccer. But a family is different. It's broader and deeper. Whether you're adopted or born into one, your family is responsible for your entire nurture, growth, and education. Your family is the group of people you live with and learn to love. The relationships are permanent and all-defining. Though you might be disappointed if your soccer league dissolved, you'd be devastated if your family disappeared."

Wind during river fest sends 1,500 floaters to Canada by Nicole Hayden (USA Today)

My hometown of Port Huron, Michigan made the national news this past week when a large number of people floating on the St. Clair River ended up on the Canadian side of the US/Canada border. Here's the story of what happened.

American Students Are Still Segregated by Income, Race by Kenrya Rankin (Colorlines)

"Fully half of American children live in high-poverty school districts—where more than 75 percent of students quality for free or reduced-price lunch—which leaves them more vulnerable to health crises, violence and subpar facilities. Frequently, these impoverished districts border affluent areas where students are bolstered by the funding that comes from higher property taxes. For “Fault Lines: America’s Most Segregating School District Borders,” researchers analyzed 33,500 individual school district boundaries to see just how economically segregated districts are."

The real history of Native American team names by Erik Brady (USA Today)

"Most damning, Native American children were often taken from their families and sent to boarding schools under an assimilation policy that amounted to cultural genocide. Its motto: “Kill the Indian and save the man.” Students were told not to speak their languages, even to each other. Their long hair was cut short. They were taught reading, writing, arithmetic and — in a form of state-sponsored religion — Christianity. “All of this was taking place outside the view of the average American,” Gover says. “At that time, someone living in Philadelphia — or, more tellingly, in Cleveland or Boston — might conclude there are no Indians anymore. They are gone. And, in fact, that was the objective of federal policy. … So there were a lot of very powerful forces at work to deny Native American people of agency over their own identities and their very lives. And that’s when the mascots emerged.”"

Orlando Health, Florida Hospital won't bill Pulse shooting victims by Kate Santich and Christal Hayes (Orlando Sentinel)

The city of Orlando experienced a horrific tragedy earlier this summer when 49 people were murdered by a gunman at the Pulse nightclub. Since then there have been countless examples of people that have cared for and reached out to the victims, as well their families. Now, millions of dollars in hospitals bills will be forgiven. Bravo to Orlando Health and Florida Hospital.

MTV Decoded Answers The Question ‘Are Hispanic People White?’

Many people are confused about who is considered to be Hispanic or Latino and why these terms are not necessarily interchangeable. In this video, Franchesca Ramsey and Kat Lazo of MTV News 'Decoded' series explain how to understand the racial and ethnic identity of Hispanics and Latinos.

Are Millennials Leaving The Church...Or Just Searching For Authentic Faith?

Photo Credit: worldstreetphotos.com

There is a perception that seems to be pervasive in American evangelical churches that Millennials (i.e. those born in the early 1980s to the early 2000s) are leaving the Christian faith in droves. Some studies (such as this one from the Pew Research Center several years ago) helps to demonstrate that this might not be the case.

In fact, having worked in ministry with young people for twenty years, it's my opinion that those of Generation Y are mostly looking for an authentic expression of Christianity. They are tired of the fake religiosity that many of them have experienced personally or only know through negative portrayals of Christians in the media.

This does not mean, however, that there are not Millennials that were raised in the Church and have left. There are. But I think it's unfair to single out this generation as somehow having abandoned its faith in ways that haven't also been true of my generation (Gen X), my parents' generation (Boomers) and others before that.

As a member of this Gen Y, Barnabas Piper offers some helpful insights on the belief that Millennials are abandoning the Church in greater numbers than previous generations:

"In decades past America was a traditionally churched, religious nation. A significant portion of society was religiously involved, and church was a cultural centerpiece. Those who grew up in explicitly religious families and contexts attended church out of habit. It was expected that come Sunday morning they would scrub behind their ears, put on their nice trousers and tie, and off to church they'd go. The power of cultural expectations was enormous. In entire swaths of the country a person was a pariah if he wasn’t a churchgoer. But no more. Sure, the Bible belt still exists, but the cultural pressure to be in church week in and week out has waned to near zero. 

Along with waning cultural pressure, the respect for institutions has diminished among young people, and with it the respect for institutional leaders. While the good Reverend McGillicuddy might once have been a community icon and an authority figure in people's personal lives he is no longer. Neither are churches community hubs (at least in white communities). Young people don't look to institutions or their heads for instruction. The trust isn't there. 

And there is a reason trust is missing for the institutional church. For decades a gospel of moralism and legalism was taught in numerous churches. People attended because it was the "right thing to do" and a way to "get right with God." 

The expectations placed on members were a particular brand of morality built around which things we don't do (drink, cuss, smoke, watch certain movies, listen to certain music, etc.). It was a burdensome law, one nobody could keep. Many didn't even try though they acted like it on Sundays. And while everyone knew it they kept on doing it. Except now young people won't pretend any more or follow an institution so full of fakery. They don't trust the hypocrisy and they reject the moralism. 

So what is it young people are leaving behind? In many cases they are leaving a faux godliness. Millions of lost people, people hanging their hat on morality or mere attendance, populated the pews of the church in previous generations. They were just a lot harder to pick out than those who brazenly walk out the door, so hard we can't even be sure how many there were."

To read the rest of Piper's post Are Millennials Less Godly than Previous Generations? please click here.

Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Role of the Church in Pursuing Justice

Photo Credit: caboindex

Taken from "Letter from a Birmingham Jail":

"In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists. 

There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators."' 

But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. 

Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent--and often even vocal--sanction of things as they are. 

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust. 

Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world. 

But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom. They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. They have gone down the highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone to jail with us. Some have been dismissed from their churches, have lost the support of their bishops and fellow ministers. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment. I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. 

But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America's destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation -and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands."

To read the complete letter, please click here.

How A Chinese-American Church Became Multi-Ethnic

Photo Credit: Enoch Lai

Vox Veniae, a church in East Austin, Texas whose name means "voice of forgiveness" in Latin, has taken a unique approach in becoming a multi-ethnic congregation. Mark Oppenheimer of The New York Times comments:

"But what’s really unexpected about Vox, to anyone who knows American Protestantism, is that what began as a church for Chinese-Americans quickly became multiracial. Last Sunday morning, whites were in the majority, and in addition to Asian-Americans, there were Latinos and African-Americans in the pews — or, rather, the metal folding chairs around the small stage where a six-piece band played before the pastor, the Rev. Gideon Tsang, delivered his sermon. 

In a country that is growing more racially diverse, and in an evangelical movement that is becoming more politically diverse, Vox Veniae, which is Latin for “voice of forgiveness,” may be, as Jesus said, a sign of the times. 

Racially diverse churches are often led by white pastors who recruit in minority communities, usually by hiring nonwhite assistant pastors. It is less common to see an ethnic church attract whites. It may be that white people avoid churches where at first they will be outnumbered. Or perhaps the ethnic churches’ worship styles feel alien (especially if prayers and sermons are in a foreign language). Whatever the reason, white churches sometimes succeed in drawing minority worshipers, but minority churches rarely attract white people. 

Mr. Tsang sports arm tattoos and the modish, buzzed-on-the-sides, long-on-top haircut that many young men who request it call “the Hitler Youth.” He was raised in Toronto, the son of a Chinese-Canadian pastor of an ethnic church. In 2006, he started Vox Veniae as an independent planting of the Austin Chinese Church, a larger church that wanted a mission to young people, especially University of Texas students. In 2007, the church opened Space 12, and in 2009, it moved its worship services there. Along the way, it began to draw older people. And whiter people. 

“The average age when we started was 22,” Mr. Tsang said. “Today, the average age is 27, 28.” Last Sunday, I sat behind a woman who must have been in her 60s. When she had trouble reading the passage from I Corinthians on the monitor above, her neighbor, about 40 years younger, whispered the words in her ear."

To read the complete article please click here.

(HT: DJ Chuang for the link.)

Putting the Mission Back Into Missional

Photo Credit: ToastyKen

Jonathan K. Dodson has written a splendid piece for The Gospel Coalition entitled, "Why the Missional Church Isn't Enough," where he advocates for the need to continually look beyond our own borders even as we seek to reach those in our own community.

Here's a highlight:

"Church historian Kenneth Latourette (1884-1963) noted that the church has a history of advance and retreat, what he called "the pulsations in the life of Christianity." Lautorette points out that the history of the church is a history of oscillating influence, spreading the gospel across the globe over the centuries. This has resulted in new expressions of the Christian faith over time and across cultures. It is amazing to consider the diversity and uniqueness of the gospel throughout space and time among the peoples of history! Today, expressions of the gospel are exploding in Africa and Asia. 

These new expressions of Christian faith are more than intriguing. They are, in fact, an expansion of God's glory. You might think that God's glory un-expandable and already complete. Not according to Jonathan Edwards. In The History of Redemption, Edwards argues that God's glory is incomplete: 

God looks on the communication of himself, and the emanation of the infinite glory and good that are in himself to belong to the fullness and completeness of himself, as though he were not in his most complete and glorious state without it. Thus the church of Christ is called the fullness of Christ: as though he were not in his complete state without her. 

God's glory in an incomplete state? His glory is not full? Sounds awfully unorthodox. What is Edwards saying? 

If Edwards is correct, the full expression of God's glory can only be completed through the history of redemption. The history of redemption cannot be completed until "the end has come," and the end will not come until "the gospel of the kingdom has been preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations" (Matt 24:14). God's glory is expanded when the gospel is translated into the many cultures of the world, entering new ethnicities, idioms, and habits. It will take the breadth of history to display the diversity of God's glory through the advance of the church. 

However, the church also retreats. Our passion for mission wanes. Even with the resurgence of missional ecclesiology, we fail in sharing and showing the gospel in our own cultures. Clearly, the missional church is not enough, not only in its scope of mission, but also in its motivation for mission. When the motivation of the church is mission, we are destined to retreat, tire out, and fail. What, then, should we do? Throw up our arms in surrender and blend fully into our cultures with the hope of missional memory loss? 

We need a greater, more captivating motivation than "missional church." When the motivation for mission is mission, people will revert to consumerism. However, if our missional endeavors are motivated by something greater, more certain, than our oscillating passion for the advance of the gospel, then there is hope. If the history of redemption will not come to a close until God's glory has been completed, then the assurance of mission starts and ends, not with the church, but with God! God's commitment to his own glorious expansion throughout space and time is the hope of the world. The hope of mission is not the church; it is Jesus committed to ushering his full, redemptive reign over all space and time, including every people."

To read the complete article please click here.

American Churches & Giving

Photo Credit: oblivion9999

Here are some eye-opening numbers about churches in the United States, our current giving patterns and the potential for where our resources could go.

Taken from MagSays:

The Problem That Currently Exists In American Churches

• Christians are giving at a 2.5% per capita or tithe.  During the Great Depression, they gave at a 3.3% rate.

• Today, 33-50% of church members, those who claim they have bought in at a deep level to your ministry, give nothing.

• If we were able to have our people increase their giving from 2.5% to 10% of their annual income, an additional $165 billion would flow into the Kingdom.  

To show the global impact those resources could make, consider the following:

• $25 billion would relieve global hunger, starvation, and deaths from preventable diseases in 5 years.

• $12 billion would eliminate illiteracy in 5 years.

• $15 billion would solve the world’s water and sanitation issues, specifically at places in the world where 1 billion people live on less than $1 per day.

• $1 billion would fully fund the Great Commission.$100 – $110 billion would still be left over for additional ministry expansion.

NOTE: the source of these statistics were provided by www.generouschurch.com.

The Whole Church Bringing The Whole Gospel To The Whole World

Whiteboard-Whole Church Whole Gospel Whole World from mariners church on Vimeo.

(h/t to Sandy Ovalle for the link)

How Many People Make Up The Average U.S. Church?

Photo Credit: J. Stephen Conn

When it comes to the size of churches within the United States, most attention is placed on mega-churches (typically defined as congregations of over 2,000 members). But for the average American church-goer, it is probably assumed that their faith community is much smaller compared to other churches. However, this might not always be the case.

From GetReligion.org:

"The median church in the U.S. has 75 regular participants in worship on Sunday mornings, according to the National Congregations Study. Notice that researchers measured the median church size — the point at which half the churches are smaller and half the churches are larger — rather than the average (186 attenders reported by the USCLS survey), which is larger due to the influence of very large churches.

But while the United States has a large number of very small churches, most people attend larger churches. The National Congregations Study estimated that the smaller churches draw only 11 percent of those who attend worship. Meanwhile, 50 percent of churchgoers attended the largest 10% of congregations (350 regular participants and up).

Want to know more? Check the websites for the National Congregations Study at http://www.soc.duke.edu/natcong. The US Congregational Life Survey (USCLS) website has statistics about congregations by religious traditions at http://www.uscongregations.org"

Of American Protestant churches, there are 177,000 churches comprised of less than 100 members. There are 40 churches of over 10,000 members. Most Protestant church-goers (approximately 25 million Americans according to this research) attend churches made up of between 100 and 500 members

To read the complete Get Religion post please click here.

More Americans Leaving The Church, Study Says

Photo Credit: eye2eye

From NewsOne.com:

"Despite the prominence of religious believers in politics and culture, America has shrinking congregations, growing dissatisfaction with religious leaders and more people who do not think about faith, according to a new study by a Duke University expert.

In “American Religion: Contemporary Trends,” author Mark Chaves argues that over the last generation or so, religious belief in the U.S. has experienced a “softening” that effects everything from whether people go to worship services regularly to whom they marry. Far more people are willing to say they don’t belong to any religious tradition today than in the past, and signs of religious vitality may be camouflaging stagnation or decline.

“Reasonable people can disagree over whether the big picture story is one of essential stability or whether it’s one of slow decline,” said Chaves. “Unambiguously, though, there’s no increase.”

Chaves, who directs the National Congregations Study, used data from that research and from four decades’ worth of General Social Survey results to draw what he aims to be an overview of contemporary American religion. The study will be published this week.

Today, as many as 20 percent of all Americans say they don’t belong to any religious group, Chaves found, compared with around 3 percent in the 1950s. Yet, those people aren’t necessarily atheists, agnostics or others. Instead, about 92 percent of Americans still profess belief in God, they just don’t use religion as part of their identity.

“It used to be that even the most marginally active people wouldn’t say they have no religion, they’d say `I’m Catholic’ or `I’m Baptist’ or `I’m Methodist’ or whatever,” Chaves said. “That’s not the case today.”

Even signs of robust religious faith may not be what they appear, Chaves found. The strength of religious conservatives in politics, for example, has coincided with a growing disillusionment about faith’s role in the public square. Chaves found that between 1991 and 2008, the percentage of Americans who strongly agreed that religious leaders should stay out of politics rose from 20 percent to 44 percent.

At the same time, those who remain devout have become more conservative. In the mid-1970s, knowing that someone attended church regularly wouldn’t reveal much about their political leanings; today, regular churchgoers are far more likely to be Republicans than Democrats.

“It’s not random who’s leaving churches,” said Bradley Wright, a University of Connecticut sociologist who studies American Christianity and wrote the 2010 book “Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites…and Other Lies You’ve Been Told.”

“As Christians affiliated more through the Republican Party, liberal, marginal churchgoers became offended and left,” she said.

The notion of decline misses important developments like the enthusiastic devotion of Christian immigrants, argues Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

“Much of our immigration is coming from countries where Christianity is blossoming,” he said. “I think God’s doing some great things in African-American churches and among Hispanic immigrants.”

Anderson thinks the change is better described as a shift than a decline, as people become more willing to leave the denominations or faiths in which they were raised and look elsewhere for spiritual nourishment.

Wright also believes that a decline might be overstating the case, and says polarization is a better description. He recently plotted survey data over the last 25 years recording what Americans say about the importance of religion in their lives. Those who say it’s extremely important have grown slightly, along with those who say it’s not at all important. But the number of people who said it was “somewhat” important dropped from 36 percent to 22 percent in about 20 years.

“Forty or 50 years ago, it was almost a form of deviance not to be religious,” he said. “When you take away that external form of motivation, people either drop away or they find their own kind of motivation.”

To read the complete article please click here.

The Church's Dirty Little Secret: Christians & Porn

Photo Credit: Ayelie

From CNN.com:

"He is a good Christian, Michael is telling his two therapists. He goes to church most Sundays. He’s a devoted husband and father of two daughters.

“But when I would leave on business trips,” he says, “I knew I was going to get to be someone else. Prostitutes, porn - I took anything I wanted.”

Sitting on a comfortable, worn couch, Michael glances out the window and sees a reflection of himself set against the parking lot of this suburban Atlanta office building. He fidgets, runs his fingers over his closely cropped blond hair and straightens his green tennis polo. He clears his throat.

Above his head hangs a poster covered in words describing feelings - angry, anxious, sad. On it is a big yellow cross. Therapists Richard Blankenship and Mark Richardson wear solemn but empathetic expressions. Certified counselors and Christian ministers, they tell him they know how to listen and nod for him to continue.

“I’ve had a record of purity since March when I confessed to my wife,” says Michael, whose name has been changed by CNN.com to protect his privacy. “No porn, no masturbation.”

“Awesome,” Richardson says, leaning forward in his chair. “God knows you’re trying.”

This is Michael’s second week at “Faithful and True – Atlanta” a 16-week counseling program that, like dozens of others like it around the country, combines traditional psychotherapy with the Bible in an attempt to treat addictive behavior.

Blankenship, a devout Christian who once struggled with sexual abuse, says his own ordeal has helped him to treat and “graduate” nearly 500 Christian men and women with similar addictions in the last five years. He says he has helped people achieve what he calls “sobriety,” which means resisting porn and lustful thoughts.

Though controversial in secular circles, much of the evangelical Christian world has been cheering this relatively new kind of therapy. Many believers, including many Christian leaders, consider it a powerful tool for fighting what they say is one of the modern church’s biggest problems: porn addiction."

To read the complete article please click here.

Church is Changing for Some African Americans

Photo Credit: Whiskeygonebad

From CNN.com:

"African-Americans go to religious services and pray daily more often than the general American population, studies show. And while those rates seem to be holding steady, the places of worship and the size of the groups are changing, says one expert.

Many people continue to attend mega churches, but the small communal gathering is rebounding in popularity, Teresa L. Fry Brown said.

“There is an increase now in house churches,” said Fry Brown, the director of black church studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. “They kind of faded for about 20 years. But now more people are having small gatherings. And they may not even call it church - like Bible studies in homes.”

There are a couple of reasons for the change, she said. Some churchgoers find the bigger houses of worship too restrictive or simply don’t trust the leadership of the church.

She said people are meeting more often in club houses, homes and restaurants. And the gatherings aren’t always sponsored through a church.

In 2009, the Pew Research Center reported that 53 percent of African-Americans attended church regularly, compared with 39 percent of all Americans."

To read the rest of the article click here.

Do American Teens Have a Vibrant Christian Faith?

Photo Credit: telex

An article on CNN.com published a few weeks ago says that most American Christian teens have a shallow faith that ultimately leads them to abandon Christianity later in life.  The article, entitled "More teens becoming 'fake' Christians", features the research of author Kendra Creasy Dean, as found in her new book, Almost Christian.

In interviews with over 3,000 Christians teens from a variety of Christan denominations, Dean found that most them were fairly ambivalent about their faith, few were active adherents to the tenets of their religious tradition and most had a difficult time expressing their beliefs to others. 

From the CNN feature:

"Many teenagers thought that God simply wanted them to feel good and do good -- what the study's researchers called "moralistic therapeutic deism."

Some critics told Dean that most teenagers can't talk coherently about any deep subject, but Dean says abundant research shows that's not true.

"They have a lot to say," Dean says. "They can talk about money, sex and their family relationships with nuance. Most people who work with teenagers know that they are not naturally inarticulate."

In "Almost Christian," Dean talks to the teens who are articulate about their faith. Most come from Mormon and evangelical churches, which tend to do a better job of instilling religious passion in teens, she says.

No matter their background, Dean says committed Christian teens share four traits: They have a personal story about God they can share, a deep connection to a faith community, a sense of purpose and a sense of hope about their future.

"There are countless studies that show that religious teenagers do better in school, have better relationships with their parents and engage in less high-risk behavior," she says. "They do a lot of things that parents pray for."

Dean, a United Methodist Church minister who says parents are the most important influence on their children's faith, places the ultimate blame for teens' religious apathy on adults.

Some adults don't expect much from youth pastors. They simply want them to keep their children off drugs and away from premarital sex.

Others practice a "gospel of niceness," where faith is simply doing good and not ruffling feathers. The Christian call to take risks, witness and sacrifice for others is muted, she says.

"If teenagers lack an articulate faith, it may be because the faith we show them is too spineless to merit much in the way of conversation," wrote Dean, a professor of youth and church culture at Princeton Theological Seminary."

These are some disconcerting findings and offer some compelling cautions for parents and those who work with youth. To read the rest of the CNN article click here.

Anne Rice Says No to Christianity...But Yes to Jesus?

Well-known author Anne Rice, who has penned such popular titles as Interview With the Vampire, has recently renounced the Christianity that she re-embraced a dozen years ago.  Rice, who had abandoned the Catholic faith of her upbringing upon reaching adulthood, returned to that faith and publicly identified herself as a Christian in the late 90's.

But in a well-publicized series of posts on her Facebook page late last week, Rice said that she is longer a Christian.  Here is some of what she had to say:

"For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being "Christian" or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to "belong" to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten ...years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else...

In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of ...Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.

My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn't understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me. But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been, or might become."

What is interesting to note here is like many of my generation, Ms. Rice seems to have more of a problem with organized religion than with Jesus himself.  While disassociating herself from the Catholic Church, she doesn't say she's done with Christ.  On the contrary, she claims that her "faith in Christ is central to [her] life."  But as far as the Church goes, it's over.

I wonder, perhaps, if she were to encounter a group of Christians that were more pro-Jesus than anti-other things, if that would change anything for her.  It's disappointing that her encounters with the Church have left her wanting and ready to give up on Christians.  I hope that at some point she would be able to meet some Christians that were not focused on organized religion but were sincere in their desire to live in relationship with Jesus.

Is it possible for a person to be in relationship with Christ apart from being involved in a local church or belonging to a particular denomination? Yes. Is that person going to grow in a way that causes them to be all that God wants them to be when not involved in Christian community? I doubt it. Even so, because Anne Rice has quit the Catholic Church it does not mean she's quit on Jesus. But I do hope that she finds a Christ-honoring community of believers that is different than her limited experiences of the past.

I, too, grow frustrated with how some so-called followers of Christ represent him to others. I believe that we can give the world a picture of Jesus that is not accurate and it causes some to ignore Christ because of how we as Christians behave. But in the end, I don't think God is going to excuse our failure to respond to him because some who identified themselves as Christians lived inconsistent lives.

If we see those who identify with Christ not representing him well, it is for us who care about that sort of thing to give a different picture. When others are hateful, we should love. When they are greedy, we should give. When they are prideful, we should be humble. When they demand their rights, we should give up ours.  As soon as we start living as Jesus lived, then I'm guessing that there will less people wanting to quit the Church and more that will be drawn to it.

Barna Study Sheds Light on Small Group Participation

A new study from the Barna Research Group examines the involvement of church members across the country. The research explores the lives of active participants in the faith and how their faith is lived out in small group participation beyond large-group worship services.

There were nine key findings from the project:

1. Women drive most faith participation, with the exception of home churches or house churches.

2. Religious activities are typically missing single adults, especially those who have never been married.

3. Older adults also dominate faith involvement.

4. Regionally, Americans’ faith involvement falls along stereotypical lines.

5. Catholics are not particularly active beyond worship attendance, while evangelicals participate in many different forms of "group faith."

6. Attenders of larger churches involve themselves in the broadest spectrum of faith activities.

7. African-Americans represent a significant share of those involved in participatory faith.

8. Personal Bible reading is most common among small group attenders.

9. Many religiously active Americans lean toward conservative political views, though there is more diversity than expected – especially among house church attenders.

To read a more complete synopsis on the report click here.

Who Are the Most Influential Preachers in the U.S.?

In a recent survey performed by LifeWay Research, Rev. Billy Graham was named as the nation's most influential preacher. The final poll results, which included responses from over a thousand pastors from Protestant denominations, reveals some potential problems with the sample from which LifeWay collected its data.

First, let me list the top ten responses:

1. Billy Graham
2. Chuck Swindoll
3. Charles Stanley
4. Rick Warren
5. John MacArthur
6. Barbara Brown Taylor
7. David Jeremiah
8. Max Lucado
9. John Piper
10. Andy Stanley

What I find interesting about this list is not that I don't think these individuals are influential (clearly they are), but I wonder about the relative homogeneity of the list. All of the preachers listed here are white and all but one is a man. Seven of the ten are from either Georgia or California. That seems a bit odd to me.

In addition, pastors of several of the largest churches in the country are not listed here, most notably Joel Osteen, Bill Hybels and T.D. Jakes. In the case of Osteen, we can say what we will about his theology and teaching methods but hardly a person in America (Christian or not) has not heard of him as a result of his television program and best-selling books.

The director of the company that did the study said this:

"The lack of diversity -- the top picks were nearly all white male Southern pastors -- however, surprised Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research, which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

"Considering our sample includes liberal and conservative, all races and ethnicities, mainline and evangelical, we were surprised that the list looked like mainstream Christian radio and publishing and was not more representative," Stetzer said.

Perhaps the reason the study came out the way it did was because those that were questioned are those that listen to mainstream Christian radio and are exposed to mainstream Christian publishing. Other groups like Pentecostals, African Americans and Hispanics, to name a few, are simply not represented in this sample. I wonder if a company that was unaffiliated with a particular denomination were to conduct a similar survey if they would get the same results. It would be interesting to find out.

How One Church Grapples With Diversity

For over 90% of American churches, the idea of having a racially diverse congregation is something that is not thought about or is an opportunity that has yet to be realized. One well-known evangelical church, Willow Creek Community Church (located outside of Chicago), is featured in a fascinating article by TIME in which Willow's attempts at racial reconciliation and diversity are examined.

As a leader in the evangelical mega church phenomenon, Willow Creek and its senior pastor, Bill Hybels, is admired for its ability to reach the unchurched. But it has only been in recent years that it has begun to have a greater representation of American ethnic minorities within its congregation (its members are now 20% people of color). Even with the increased diversity of its church, the leadership of the church is still made up overwhelmingly of those of European descent.

As a church that exploded in numbers based on the principles of the People Group approach to evangelism and church growth (popularized by individuals like Donald MacGavran, Ralph Winter and C. Peter Wagner), the leadership of Willow Creek realized that people are most likely to come to faith and get involved in a church community with those that are most like them. Willow grew as a church because they focused on meeting the needs of white, suburban, middle-class individuals and families. They are now attempting to change the DNA of their church by becoming more inclusive to those that don't necessarily fit the above categories. Although this reality doesn't mean that a truly diverse congregation can't happen for them, it does make it extremely challenging.

Although the bulk of my local church experience has been in congregations with those that come from similar cultural backgrounds as my own, that hasn't always been the case. During my time as a campus minister at Kent State University, I was a member of a large, predominately African American church in west Akron. Even though I have many fond memories of my time at The House of the Lord, it was not always an easy experience. I was well-aware that I was in the minority in a congregation that was nearly 90% black. All but one member of the pastoral and administrative staff was African American. The praise team was all-black and only one or two members of the choir looked like me.

It was a tremendous learning experience for me to me part of this church. I developed some really good friendships, learned a lot about the black church and African American culture in general. Much of what I learned has been invaluable in my ministry among students of African descent. But the reality was that I was someone that was already a Christian. In fact, I was in vocational ministry to African Americans. The experience would have likely been much different for someone that grew up with a similar background to my own but was not already a believer in Christ.

And so it is for most people that are in the minority in a church setting. As loving and caring and kind as the people may be, you never forget that things are not necessarily designed (intentionally or not) for the context of your culture. But it doesn't have to be that way. Churches can take intentional steps to recognize and value its members that are in the minority (no matter what their ethnicity may be). Seeing diversity up front and in its leadership, references in sermons to music, movies, literature, etc. from various ethnic communities, playing various musical styles during worship services and emphasizing God's attitude toward racial injustice in messages and small groups are several ways that churches can include various ethnicities.

With nearly fourteen years of cross-cultural ministry experiences under my belt, I know firsthand that these things are not easy. For the individual that wants to cross long-established racial and cultural boundaries, there will be a price to pay. I have paid some of them and you will, too. Having said that, I don't believe that multi-cultural church models are the only way to "do church." I still think that most people in the world will come to faith and be nurtured in their faith in a community from their own culture. And there is nothing wrong with that as long as they are not intentionally excluding those not from their community. But for those that are willing to make a sincere and intentional effort to build a multi-cultural community, there are few pursuits that are more challenging or rewarding in Christian ministry.

Even as Willow Creek continues on its admirable pursuit of greater inclusiveness, they are still a long ways off from fully embracing and affirming all the cultures represented in its membership. For example, even though it is now comprised of 20% ethnic minorities, it still means that 80% of the membership is white. In essence, which changes or adjustments have its white members made so that its non-white members are more included and empowered? Successful multi-cultural churches require real sacrifices and until there has been equal sacrifices across the board, I don't think it can be defined as a truly diverse church. But, still, Pastor Hybels commitment to racial justice and unity is noteworthy and hopefully more churches will examine this area within their own fellowships.

*Thanks to Justin Taylor for the link.

Dealing With Church Conflict

Because churches are made up of fallen people, there will inevitably be conflict, disagreements and varying perspectives on how church should be done. In most cases these differences can be worked out amicably without much harm. In other cases, it doesn't always turn out as one would hope.

Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, a well-known church founded by the late D. James Kennedy and located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has been going through a bit of a rough stretch as its members adjust to having only their second senior pastor in the church's nearly half-century of existence. Just this past March Coral Ridge installed Tullian Tchividjian as senior pastor.

Shortly after Rev. Tchividjian's hiring some rifts began to form as some members of Coral Ridge had trouble with Tchividjian's style and approach to ministry. Tchividjian, who happens to be the grandson of evangelist Billy Graham, is significantly younger than Kennedy and ruffled the feathers of some long-time members of the church. Among the things that were mentioned were his lack of focus on political issues in his sermons and his refusal to wear a robe.

As is the case with many church disputes, the disagreements in this instance seem to revolve around things that don't necessarily have their basis in Scripture. For example, there are no biblical requirements for pastors to wear robes or for them to march in-step with a certain political party. Fortunately, the members of Coral Ridge voted to retain Tchividjian as their pastor after a congregational vote recently.

Pastor Tchividjian offered a brief interview with Christianity Today last week which you can read here. I appreciate the maturity with which he has handled this situation publicly and indicated desire to represent Christ well, even in the midst of disagreement with other Christians. When asked how to discuss the situation publicly without worsening it, Tchividjian said this:

"My commitment is to speak about those who opposed me in a forgiving manner, in a Christ-like manner. I will, by God's grace, do my best to take the high road, to not disparage anybody, to operate in a posture of understanding. Some of these people had only had one pastor ever. So that's going to be hard for some people.

So I am very much working hard to treat those who have opposed me the way God and Christ treated me."

As I said, conflict in the church is inevitable because we are each sinful people. How we choose to respond to that conflict is what a watching world is most interested in.

The Presence of Africans in Christian History

In my ministry with African American college students over the years a question that has often come up is whether Christianity is just a religion for the white man and offers nothing for people of color. Remarkably, few people know about the presence of black people in the Bible and the rich history that those of African descent have played in the history of the Christian church.

St. Augustine, one of the most influential early Christian figures, was himself an African who had this to say:

"I repeat, if she who asks is the Church, which no one disputes, and they hear something about Africa; then she who asks is out of Africa; and because it is the Church, the Church is out of Africa"

Although that might seem like a fairly provocative statement, it really isn't when you begin to examine the presence of Africans and those that would be considered black by today's standards throughout church history. For example, Matthew and John Mark, authors of two of the gospel accounts of Jesus, journeyed to Africa and the gospel message spread rapidly through north Africa, primarily in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia. In fact, some of the first foreign missionaries after the apostles were Africans. The gospel took root on the continent of Africa in such a way that in the early part of the first millennium, most important questions of doctrine were settled under the leadership of African scholars.

Going back earlier, to the beginning of time, we know that the first people resided in Africa. In Before the Mayflower, historian Lerone Bennett states the following:

"Civilization started in the great river valleys of Africa and Asia, in the Fertile Crescent in the Near East and along the narrow ribbon of the Nile in Africa. Blacks, or people who would be considered black today, were among the first people to use tools, paint pictures, plant seeds, and worship gods."

Jumping forward to Noah and the Ark where Christians believe that God sent a great flood to the earth that destroyed all of humanity, save for Noah and his family. The earth was re-populated through Noah’s three sons and their wives:

1. Ham (dark or black) – Africans, Asians, and Indians
2. Shem (dusky or olive-colored) – Middle Eastern (Arabic) and Jews
3. Japheth (bright or fair) – Europeans

From Noah's son Ham came his sons: Cush (Ethiopians), Mizraim (Egyptians), Put (Libyans), and Canaan (Canaanites). Of these grandchildren of Noah came the darker skinned peoples of the earth and from these descendants of Noah eventually came the following selected influential figures in biblical history:

• Jethro – the Priest of Midian who became the father-in-law to Moses when his daughter, Zipporah (a Cushite), married him.
• Nimrod – was the ruler of the land of Shinar, the father of Assyrian and Babylonian Empires, and was the first great leader of a world civilization.
• Joshua – Joseph’s grandson came from the tribe of Ephraim and was a great leader of Israel.
• King David – one of the most well-known figures of the Old Testament whose great-grandmother was Rahab (a Canaanite), and mother was Ruth (a Moabite).
• King Solomon – was recognized as the wisest man ever. His father was David and mother was Bathsheba (daughter of Sheba).
• The Ethiopian Eunuch of Acts 8. The early disciple Philip encountered him, a man of great importance and influence. According to church history, this Ethiopian helped spread the gospel in Africa after becoming a Christian.
• Simon of Cyrene – was a man who helped Jesus carry his crossbar on the way to Golgotha. It's interesting to note that when Jesus needed help at his most vulnerable hour, an African man helped him.
• Jesus Christ. Although we can't be certain of the color of Jesus's skin, there were several women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba) that were of Hamitic descent.

Looking at early church history, we find a number of key African figures such as:

• Tertullian – a major contributor to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.
• St. Augustine – who wrote the seminal works "Confessions" & "City of God." He was regarded as the one of the first highly regarded theologians, was of African descent and was educated at an African university.
• Athanasius – attended the Council of Nicea in AD 325, in which Christian orthodoxy was defended against a heretic by the name of Arian. Athanasius wrote a letter in AD 367 which is the first evidence of all 27 books of the New Testament being included as the Scripture canon.
• Cyprian – was the Bishop of Carthage and became a martyr when he was beheaded in AD 258 for his faith. He is one of the most influential writers of the early Latin Church.

Some say Christianity is a slave religion and the Bible is a white man’s book. Leaders from the Nation of Islam assert that Islam is the true religion for black people. But look at the following facts on whether Christianity or Islam might be considered the "natural" religion for those of African descent:

1. Jesus was born in the 1st century whereas Muhammad was born in the 5th century.
2. Blacks in Africa had built churches on African soil before Muhammad was even born.
3. Arabic Muslims were the first to target Blacks exclusively for slavery and Europeans adopted this from them. This does does not excuse any white participants in the slave trade but it needs to be stated that it wasn't solely whites who took part.
4. Lamin Sanneh, a well-respected Ivy League professor, claims that Christianity reached West Africa prior to Africans being brought to the U.S. as slaves.

Lastly, when we think of the pivotal time in church history shortly after Christ's crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, Africans played a pivotal role. They were present at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell and they participated in sending Paul and Barnabas off on their missionary journeys. Africans were not only present, but were leaders in the Church from the earliest beginnings. So if you're of African descent and anyone ever challenges you on why you're a Christian, you might want to share a little history with them.

**Thank you to Pastor Dwight McKissic for his book, Beyond Roots, and to Pastor Bill Mitchell for his class, Out of Africa, that helped to shape the content of this post.**